Film festival award honors Frank Capra

On Sunday night, when organizers of the Fallbrook International Film Festival take the stage to bestow their most prestigious award, the plaque will bear a unique bronze image of one of North County’s most famous residents.

The Frank Capra Award, as it is known, was sculpted in Fallbrook by Leo Romero and cast in bronze by Fallbrook artist Brandon Roy at the California Sculpture Academy off Alvarado Street — a wholly local prize, from start to finish.

“It’s our Oscar,” festival co-founder and Director Ronald Shattuck told me on Monday. “Back in 2008, when the festival started, we talked about the fact that Frank Capra himself had lived in Fallbrook, and we wondered if there would be a way to reach any surviving members of his family. We weren’t sure how to go about that, but in 2009, (board member) Linda Mandrayar did some research and was able to find Frank Capra III up in Hollywood.”

Capra the third is the grandson of the famous “Arsenic and Old Lace” director, who owned a home in Fallbrook for years around the middle of the 20th century.

Romero, an accomplished artist, had already been crafting prize sculptures for the festival, and in 2009 he was asked to create a large medallion-style award using Capra’s photograph.

“I saw a picture of him and said, ‘Well, I could do something like this,’” Romero recalled.

His first two Frank Capra awards were made out of a material called “poly resin,” which was then stained with various dyes to look like bronze: “We didn’t have the funds then, nor the time, to cast it in bronze,” Shattuck explained.

This year, however, the winner of the festival’s flagship honor will take home a heavy, bronze, made-in-Fallbrook award to show for his efforts.

That winner, Kurt Kuenne, has already been announced. His film, titled “Shuffle,” was chosen for its unique script and stylized cinematography, Shattuck said.

Meanwhile, the artist behind the dinner plate-size award said he was pleased with the results.

“I thought it went well,” he said. “I wanted the piece to be done here in Fallbrook, and since we have a foundry here, it was a great opportunity. I was just honored to be part of it.”

“It has a lot of fine detail in it,” Shattuck added. “It’s a beautiful piece.”

Romero said he spent several weeks carving Capra’s image in clay, which was then used as a mold for the bronze casting. Brandon Roy then poured the bronze on Feb. 16.

That evening, Shattuck was on hand with a video camera to record the process, and his seven-minute documentary, “The Making of the Frank Capra Award,” will be screened during the awards gala on Sunday at Pala Casino.

Frank Capra III, who is an honorary board member, presents the award.

Shattuck said this weekend’s bronze prize is one of a batch of five Capra awards being cast this year at the Fallbrook foundry.

One will probably go to the Capra family, one will be displayed somewhere in Fallbrook — possibly the library — and the other two will be presented during the 2014 and ’15 film festivals.

The Fallbrook International Film Festival starts today ﻿and runs through April 11 at the Digiplex Cinemas in Bonsall. A schedule of screenings is available at